1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to thermodynamic motors and to the conversion of a heat differential, produced by the evaporation of water or by the natural differential in the atmosphere, into usable energy and in particular to the generation of electricity.
2. Prior Art
Several U.S. patents have been issued for various thermodynamic power sources of the type shown in FIG. 1 having two chambers connected by a tube forming an airtight container containing a volatile liquid and its vapor. The tube is mounted in a near vertical position on a pivot, and the end of the tube extends into the lower chamber and is submerged in the liquid. When the higher chamber is the coolest chamber, the liquid moves from the lower chamber through the tube to the higher chamber causing the upper chamber to over balance the lower chamber. The container pivots towards a balance position at which the end of the tube is no longer submerged in the liquid in the lower chamber. This allows the liquid to flow back to the lower chamber which causes the container to pivot back to the original position.
U.S. Pat. Nos. for inventions of this type are 2,402,463 to Sullivan - June 18, 1946, 2,398,471 to Short & Brown - Apr. 6, 1946 and 2,384,168 to Hillery - Sept. 4, 1946. The best known of such devices is made to look like a bird and is sold as a novelty. The upper chamber is made to resemble the head of the bird and is covered by an absorbent material and has a beak made of absorbent material extending from the upper chamber. A container of water is positioned so that when the bird rocks, the beak goes into the water which is absorbed by the beak. After the bird rocks back to the original position the evaporation of the water cools the upper chamber. This slight temperature differential between the two chambers is enough potential energy to keep the bird rocking as long as the water level in the container is high enough to wet the beak.
No method before now has been used to harness or take off the energy made available by these power sources; nor have these power sources been used to perform work other than moving objects such as signs which are tightly attached to the container and which move with the container. This lack of use of the power source is due to the inconsistent rocking of the containers. The frequency of the cycle of these devices varies from one cycle to another as does the amount of force with which these devices move.
Presently electric power plants are powered by energy obtained from the destructive consumption of fuels which pollutes the air or has the potential of radiation contamination or powered by energy obtained from moving bodies of water which are limited to a small portion of the earth's topography.